


looking for what's right in front of me

by kathoo



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 17:57:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15515388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kathoo/pseuds/kathoo
Summary: “It’s dumb that someone would leave me a letter asking me to return their feelings and then not sign their name off, right? Super duper dumb. The dumbest thing to do. Whatever. I’m just gonna throw this out.”“Wait!” Saihara stopped him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ouma-kun. Maybe they wanted you to figure out who they were… maybe they wanted to give you a mystery.”Kokichi blinked. “A… mystery? Well, duh, I knew that. It took you long enough to figure it out!”“Are you going to solve it? Or are you going to throw it away?”“I’ll solve it, of course!".Kokichi finds a confession letter in his locker signed off with no name, and Saihara—his unfortunate crush—offers to help him find the author. For the first time in a long time, the answer is not what Kokichi expected.





	looking for what's right in front of me

**Author's Note:**

> this is an idea i've had for a little while, but just recently got around to writing!
> 
> shout-out to my friend cass for putting up with me as i dump all my ideas on her and supporting me as a write them. i don't think i'd be sane without her

Kokichi Ouma was unfazeable - he could predict anything and everything at all times. There was no such thing as catching him by surprise.

At least that was what he thought until now as he pulled a note out of his locker.

 

_Dear Kokichi,_

_I’ve known you for some time, now, and I just want you know how I feel. Every day that you’re around me is a day that I feel butterflies in my stomach, and sometimes I find myself thinking of you in random moments - it’s as if you’ve consumed my thoughts. You were… an anomaly to me at first, and you still are, but now I feel like I’m beginning to understand you more. I have a better grasp on who you are._

_I suppose I should just cut to the chase, though. I love you. Or maybe that’s too much too fast, and maybe I am just a stupid teenager who feels things too quickly - and in that case, I’m in like with you. I’m really, really in like with you. I could list all the things that I like about you, but I don’t think I’d be able to stop if I started._

_I know that we’re both boys, and I know that some people may look down on us for it, but… I can’t find myself caring about what other people think when I’m with you. You’re just that amazing._

_I hope that you feel the same way._

_Sincerely,_

_Anonymous_

 

...What.

There were many, many things strange about this letter - but the first thing was that the fact that someone could be in love with _him_ of all people was absolutely ludicrous. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever, not to mention that this person would have to care enough to get to know him, and he knew few people that ever did that.

His mind flashed to a certain detective, but he immediately brushed the thought away. Saihara didn’t like Kokichi, he was just curious, and that was all. There were no feelings in between them. Saihara probably liked Akamatsu, anyway. Or Momota. Or someone important to him. Either way, Saihara didn’t like him.

And he definitely didn’t like Saihara.

(He loved lies. They were kind when the world was not.)

So, it had to be someone else, right? Either that, or it was a prank. The latter seemed much more plausible, actually. It was probably just a joke made by someone who hated him…

...but then why did the letter feel so real?

While he was deep in thought, someone came up next to him and said, “Ouma-kun,” surprising him. He turned around to face Saihara.

“You look deep in thought,” Saihara noticed, observant as ever. “Did something happen?”

“Nope,” Kokichi lied, grinning. “I was just distracted by your raw beauty.”

Saihara’s cheeks were painted a light red. “I j-just got here, though,” he pointed out, looking away from Kokichi, most likely from embarrassment.

“I know,” Kokichi said, “that was a lie! I would never look at you. You’re hideous. But that’s a lie, too.”

Saihara shook his head with a small smile. “Hey, what’s that letter in your hand…?”

“Oh, this little thing?” Kokichi echoed. “It’s just fanmail. Y’know, since I’m _famous_ and everything.”

“Right,” Saihara replied in a disbelieving voice. “Are you going to tell me what it really is?”

Kokichi sighed, and silently handed the letter over to Saihara, trying his best not to look at Saihara’s face while doing it. After about thirty seconds or so of pure silence, Saihara simply said, “Oh.”

Kokichi snatched the letter back, holding it close to his chest. “It’s dumb that someone would leave me a letter asking me to return their feelings and then not sign their name off, right? Super duper dumb. The dumbest thing to do. Whatever. I’m just gonna throw this out.”  
  
“Wait!” Saihara stopped him. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Ouma-kun. Maybe they wanted you to figure out who they were… maybe they wanted to give you a mystery.”

Kokichi blinked. “A… mystery? Well, duh, I knew that. It took you long enough to figure it out!”

The corners of Saihara’s mouth quirked upwards as he peered into Kokichi’s eyes. “Are you going to solve it? Or are you going to throw it away?”

“I’ll solve it, of course,” Kokichi responded. “I’m the king of mysteries. _I_ might as well be the Ultimate Detective with how much higher my skill level is than yours! I’ll solve this mystery in two seconds."

“I’ll help you,” Saihara offered. “It’s after school and I have nothing to do, anyway. I haven’t solved a case in awhile, too - it’ll be refreshing.”  
  
Kokichi felt a small part of him die at those words, because now he was absolutely sure that Saihara wasn’t the one who wrote that letter. If Saihara was going to help him find the real author, then it definitely wasn’t him - Saihara wasn’t the type of person to waste his time otherwise.

“Hm,” Kokichi hummed. “What if I don’t _want_ you to help me?”

Saihara frowned, his shoulders sagging a bit. “Then… I won’t.”

“Fine, fine! You can help,” Kokichi relented. “There’s no need to look so pitiful, Saihara-chan. You know I’d never exclude you!”

Kokichi folded the letter and slid it into his pocket - they’d probably need it later, after all. “So,” Kokichi began. “Where do we start, Mr. Detective?”

“Well,” Shuichi started, “the letter did state that you were both boys, right? Which means that the person who wrote the letter was a boy. So that leaves us with very few options.”

“True, true,” Kokichi agreed. “But we can already rule Momota-chan out - he’s _waaay_ to dumb to have written a letter like _that_.”

Saihara turned to him, and there was something off about his face that Kokichi couldn’t quite describe. “You think… that it was well-written?”

“Yeah? Does it matter?” Kokichi asked, raising an eyebrow. “You’re so weird, Saihara-chan. Anyway, we know it wasn’t Momota-chan. And I think we can rule Gokuhara-chan out for sure. So that leaves…”

“Amami-kun, Hoshi-kun, Shinguuji-kun, and Kiibo-kun,” Saihara finished for him, and Kokichi couldn’t help but feel his heart beat faster. Just a little bit. Barely anything at all, really. _Is everything I say a lie?_

“I don’t think Hoshi-chan and Shinguuji-chan even like me,” Kokichi pointed out. “They’re big meanies! Not to mention that the letter totally isn’t like anything Hoshi-chan would say.”

“Hm,” Saihara thought. “Well, you never know. And it could be Kaito-kun or Gokuhara-kun, maybe, if they asked someone else to write it for them. Toujou-san might have done it for them - she does almost anything for all of us.”

“ _Kaito-kun?”_ Kokichi mocked, pretending like it didn’t feel like a stab in the chest. “You’re already on a first name basis with the space idiot? Jeez, is he your boyfriend or something?”

_Please say no._

Saihara shook his head, a small smile on his face. “Kaito-kun is my… best friend. I’ve never really felt any romantic feelings towards him, though. I highly doubt he’s even remotely interested in me, either. Besides, there’s someone else that I like a lot.”

It had to be Akamatsu, then. There’s no one else it could be, unless it was someone who didn’t go to their school. Saihara and Akamatsu were always spending time together, and while they always insisted it was always in a purely platonic nature, Kokichi was having his doubts. After all, Akamatsu was kind and thoughtful - it was no surprise that Saihara would love her.

And Kokichi was rude and insulting - it was no surprise Saihara didn’t love him.

“If you say so,” Kokichi brushed it off. “Anyway, if Toujou-san could have written it for someone, that takes away our narrowed list and puts it back at everybody. Ugh, I _haate_ this. It’s too much work. But… then again, the note doesn’t say it’s from this class, does it?”

“We’ll have to rely on instinct,” Saihara told him, and Kokichi wasn’t sure he’d ever hear those words from a detective in his life. “Ouma-kun, who do _you_ think wrote the letter?”

Who… did he think wrote the letter?

Momota definitely didn’t like him in that way. Momota wanted to be friends, but if Momota didn’t like Saihara then Kokichi was positive that he was head-over-heels with Harukawa. And Hoshi wasn’t interested in anyone, really - and he doubted Gokuhara even had the mental capacity to understand feelings beyond a platonic nature. Anyone else was a possibility, though, but if he had to guess…

“Maybe Amami-chan’s fallen in _looove_ with me!” Kokichi cheered. “I always knew I would steal his heart.”

Maybe it was Amami. Maybe Amami liked Kokichi. The only problem with that was Kokichi didn’t feel the same way about Amami at all.

Saihara’s expression was unreadable. “Do you want it to be Amami-san, Ouma-kun?”

Kokichi blinked. “...No,” he admitted, allowing himself to be truthful for once. Putting he mask back on, he continued, “Breaking the news to him will be a pain, though. That letter felt so heartfelt - I might actually feel bad. But… we still don’t know if it’s Amami-chan, right? We’re pretty stumped here, Saihara-chan. You’re a bad detective.”  
  
Saihara rolled his eyes. “It’s not that easy…. Maybe we should ask for other opinions.”

Kokichi blinked. “Like who? Kirigiri-chan? That’s a good idea, actually - she’s probably a better detective than you are by a million miles.”  
  
Saihara laughed. “She probably is… but that’s not who I meant.”

Kokichi frowned. “I was kidding. You’re a great detective, Saihara-chan. You just suck at this.”

“Thanks,” Saihara said in a deadpan voice. “But… I meant maybe we should ask the girls. They might have an idea.”

Kokichi blinked. “I think the girls are too busy crushing on _each other_ to notice anything about us boys, Saihara-chan.”

“Well, yeah, true,” Saihara admitted. “But we’re all friends, aren’t we? They might have an idea.”

Kokichi sighed. “You’re lucky I love you so much, Mr. Detective, or I wouldn’t bother with your dumb ideas.”

Despite the fact that Saihara probably took it as a joke, Kokichi could’ve sworn his cheeks were blushing - then again, that might have just been Kokichi’s own hopeful mind. Grabbing Saihara’s hand, Kokichi dragged him off down the hall.

 

 

.

 

 

“Akamatsu-san and Iruma-san are in the music room,” Saihara informed him. “You can ask them, and then I can ask Harukawa-san. They might have some idea as to who could have done it.”

“Aw, you wanna split up?” Kokichi whined, clutching Saihara’s arm. “Why don’t we just go together?”

“I mean… this way is quicker,” Saihara pointed out, shifting his gaze away. “I’m just going to ask her if any of the guys have been talking about you lately. That’s all.”

“I don’t wanna be in the same room as Iruma-chan,” Kokichi complained. “Who would want to waste their time on an ugly bitch like her? She won’t even know anything helpful - she’ll just be annoying!”

“Iruma-san is a nice person once you get to know her,” Saihara told him. “You should be nicer to her. She takes the things you say about her to heart, you know.”

“You’re _too_ nice to people,” Kokichi insisted. “You’re like a doormat. The nicer you are to people the more they think they can use you - that’s how life works, Saihara-chan. For a detective you don’t have much figured out.”

“You should go before they leave,” Saihara suggested, avoiding Kokichi’s point.

“Aye aye, Captain,” Kokichi said, saluting. He turned around to walk towards the music room, and he could hear Saihara walking away from behind him.

As he got closer, he could hear faint piano music coming from the music room. Curious, he opened the door to see Akamatsu pressing her fingers against the keys lightly and Iruma repeating her movements. The door was old, though, and creaky - Akamatsu and Iruma were immediately notified of his presence.

“Ouma-kun!” Akamatsu yelped, startled. “You scared me… knock first. Can we help you?”

“How rude,” Ouma criticized. “Maybe I just wanted to grab an instrument and play a beautiful song of my own, Akamatsu-chan.”

“Like hell you’re pickin’ up an instrument,” Iruma hissed. “You’re just standin’ around like a dumbass! You’re wasting the gorgeous girl genius’ time, bitch!”

“I didn’t know the gorgeous girl genius needed piano lessons,” Kokichi shot back.

“I— _well_ —” Iruma began.

“If there’s something you need, Ouma-kun, we’d really appreciate it if you told us,” Akamatsu interrupted Iruma. “We have to finish up soon so we can go get ice cream before the place we’re going to closes.”

“Oh, ice cream? Are you two going on a date or something?” Kokichi joked, grinning.

“Fuck yeah we are! There a problem with that?” Iruma shouted, hostile as ever.

...What?

“You two are going on a date?” Kokichi blurted. “But don’t you and Saihara-chan like each other, Akamatsu-chan?”

Akamatsu laughed. “Saihara-kun and I are just friends… I like Miu. A lot.”

“S-Shut up,” Iruma muttered, turning her face away from Akamatsu to hide her blush. “Y-You’re gross…”

Akamatsu liked Iruma, and Iruma liked Akamatsu… and he hadn’t known? This entire time? _Wow_ , Kokichi thought. _My gaydar must not be as good as I thought it was. But… if Akamatsu and Saihara don’t like eadch other, then Akamatsu isn’t the one that Saihara likes._

...So who did Saihara like?

“I knew that,” Kokichi lied. “You’re so easy to mess with, Akamatsu-chan.”

“You didn’t!” Iruma accused. “B-Besides, y-you could never u-understand our deep, passionate love…” Drool was forming at the corner of Iruma’s mouth.

“Ew,” Kokichi commented. “You can do better, Akamatsu-chan, but anyway—”

“Ugly twink,” Iruma muttered under her breath.

“—I have a really, really, really, really important question,” Kokichi finished, glaring at Iruma.

“Ask away,” Akamatsu allowed, smiling at him.

“Okay, so,” Kokcihi started, “hypothetically, if a guy in our class were to write me a love letter, who would it be? Hypothetically.”

Akamatsu blinked. “...What?”

Iruma, however, was unfazed. “No one would love your virgin ass! Why’re you askin’, anyway? You want us to help ya find someone to fantasize about? No thanks!”

Akamatsu frowned. “That’s not true. I’m sure a bunch of people would like Ouma-kun. I’m just thinking… I mean, there’s only one person who comes to mind, but I’m sure he would tell me about it first if he did it… is this really hypothetical?”

“You got me, Akamatsu-chan,” Kokichi admitted. “But I need your help. Isn’t that your job as Class Rep, anyway? To help your classmates?”

Akamatsu looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, first, we need to think about who it can’t be. It can’t be Momota-kun because he likes Harukawa-san, it can’t be Hoshi-kun or Gokuhara-kun because they like each other—”

How many other relationships were within the class that he didn’t know about? He had been a bit distracted lately…

“—it can’t be Shinguuji-kun because I know he doesn’t like any of us,” Akamatsu continued, “it can’t be Kiibo-kun because he’s not romantically interested in any of us at the time either, and it can’t be Amami-kun because he sees you as a brother.”

“That crosses everyone out,” Kokichi told her. “Thanks for nothing. You have to had made a mistake somewhere.”

“That doesn’t cross everyone out,” Iruma pointed out, but her tone was mellow rather than hostile. Like she actually wanted to help him. “There’s one person left, dumbass.”

“Saihara-chan likes someone else,” Kokichi told them. “Ugh. Whatever. Both of you helped as much as I thought you would—which is not at all.”

Akamatsu sighed. “I think you’re the one who has a mistake in your reasoning, Ouma-kun… but you’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Kokichi didn’t bother responding as he left the room, Akamatsu’s words still laying heavy with him. _His_ reasoning was off? What could he be wrong about? _She doesn’t even know what she’s talking about. She’s well-meaning, but in the long run she’s not helpful._

Surprisingly, Saihara was waiting outside for him. “Done?” Saihara asked.

“Nope,” Kokichi lied, “I just decided to randomly exit the room in the middle of a conversation.”

Saihara’s cheeks were puffed out just the slightest bit. “I get it, I get it… do you think you have anything figured out?”

“Not at all,” Kokichi sighed. “They didn’t help _at all_ —I should sue them for wasting my time. What do you think, Saihara-chan?”

“What did they tell you?” Saihara questioned.

“They basically ruled everyone out, which doesn’t help me at all,” Kokichi explained, deciding not to waste his time with lies for the time being. “We’re not getting anywhere. Is being a detective always this frustrating? I pity you, Saihara-chan.”

“Let’s go over what we know,” Saihara suggested. “Like… a closing argument of sorts.”

“Is that supposed to help?” Kokichi deadpanned.  
  
“I mean… it does, usually…”

“Alright,” Kokichi allowed. “Take it away, Saihara-chan.”

“We know it’s a boy,” Saihara began. “Which means there are seven possibilities. However, I don’t think that Toujou-san wrote the letter - it’s not in her handwriting. Which means that I think we can rule out Momota-kun and Gokuhara-kun. And the style of writing isn’t something I would peg to be Hoshi-kun’s, so we can rule him out, too. And as a robot, I think Kiibo-kun’s handwriting would look much more _robotic_ than the one on the letter, so I don’t think that it was him, either.”

“And I think Shinguuji-chan can barely tolerate me, so I doubt it was him,” Kokichi went off from Saihara’s reasoning. “And Akamatsu did make one good point - Amami-chan probably sees me as a brother. But that just rules out everyone again.”

Saihara looks at him. “There’s still one more person unaccounted for.”

Kokichi blinked. “What? Your imaginary friend?”

Saihara sighed. “You’re usually extremely perceptive - but you don’t see things when you don’t want to.”

Kokichi narrowed his eyes. “What are you suggesting, Saihara-chan?”

“Ouma-kun,” Saihara began. “If it was one of the boys in our class, but it wasn’t any of the others, then who’s the only person it could be?”

It hit Kokichi all at once. “It was… you?”

Saihara laughed. “Yep.”

“But you helped me,” Kokichi muttered. “You tried to find the author - yet you _were_ the author the entire time. I would’ve never expected you…”

Saihara gave him a sheepish smile. “I wanted to make it a mystery for you…”

It was in that moment that a strange feeling came over Kokichi - it was as if the roles had been reversed. Saihara was the phantom thief who’d stolen his heart, and Kokichi was the detective desperately trying to piece it all together.

“You… seriously did all that?” Kokichi asked. “The letter… did you mean it? Do you really feel that way?”

Saihara looked embarrassed, but answered with, “Yeah. I meant every word.”

Kokichi stared at him blankly. “You’re a real idiot, you know?”

“H-Huh?”

Kokichi moved forward to wrap his arms around Saihara, catching Saihra by surprise. “I’ve liked you for centuries, Saihara-chan.”

“W-We’re not even that ol—”

“It was a lie.”

“O-Oh…”

Saihara returned the gesture by wrapping his arms around Kokichi in return, and Kokichi felt strangely… secure. “I thought you liked Akamatsu-chan,” Kokichi admitted. “Or Momota-chan. Or someone that wasn’t me. For someone who seems so clueless sometimes, you sure know how to create a good mystery, Mr. Detective… you told me that you liked someone so I wouldn’t suspect that the person was me, didn’t you?”

“Y-You got me,” Saihara admitted, mimicking the way that Kokichi usually said those words.

“Does this mean you’re my boyfriend?” Kokichi asked. “Because once you are, there’s no going back. You can’t go back - it’s a lifetime contract!”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Saihara muttered. “Of course I’m your… _boyfriend_. Ah. That word sounds so strange to say…”

“I’m sure for _you_ it does, Virgin-chan.”

“H-Hey!”

“I don’t understand why you like… _me_ ,” Kokichi told him. “You’ve gotta be the craziest person on this planet, y’know? You have the worst taste.”

Saihara smiled at him. “Maybe I’m crazy. But you’re insane.”

“Get a room!” Iruma’s voice sounded from a few feet away, and both of them whipped around to see Iruma and Akamatsu standing right outside the door. They must have just exited the room. Akamatsu’s entire face was red, but Iruma just looked annoyed.

“M-Miu!” Akamatsu scolded, face still flushed. Looking at Kokichi and Shuichi, she continued, “Um… w-we’ll just be leaving…” She grabbed Iruma by the hand and dragged her off, ignoring Iruma’s squawk of surprise.

“See? Iruma-chan is just an annoying bitch,” Kokichi said, although he didn’t really mean it.

Saihara shook his head. “I can’t believe they saw that…. I can’t blame Iruma-san for being annoyed.”

Kokichi rolled his eyes. “I told you. You’re too nice.”

“H-Hey… can I do something?” Shuichi asked, too embarrassed to look into Kokichi’s eyes.

“Hm?”

“C-Can I… kiss yo—”

Kokichi interrupted him by promptly leaning up on the tips of his toes and pressed his lips against Saihara’s in the light, gentle kiss. It was short, but it tingled on Kokichi’s lips in the aftermath.

Kokichi hummed. “You’re a bad kisser.” It was a lie - Saihara was actually a great kisser considering this was probably one of his first kisses, if not his first kiss.

“You think so?” Saihara asked.

“I know so,” Kokichi insisted. “Oh, well. Practice makes perfect.”

Before Saihara could say a thing, Kokichi leaned in again.

**Author's Note:**

> me? writing a one shot that isn't centered around a wlw pairing? it's more likely than you think
> 
> if you're wondering what shuichi was doing when he said that he would ask maki for help on finding the author, he was actually going to maki for moral support because he's a nervous wreck
> 
> thank you so much for reading! all comments and kudos are very much appreciated! 
> 
> i hope you have an amazing day!
> 
> [follow my tumblr if you're interested!](https://emiiriii.tumblr.com/)


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